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Texas
Texas, one of the West South Central states of the United States. It borders Mexico on the southwest and the Gulf of Mexico on the southeast. To the west is New Mexico, to the north and northeast lie Oklahoma and Arkansas, and Louisiana bounds Texas on the east. Austin is the capital of Texas. Houston is the largest city.
Texas is the size of Ohio, Indiana, and all the New England and Middle Atlantic states combined, and its vast area encompasses forests, mountains, deserts and dry plains, and a long, humid, subtropical coastal lowland. Texas's wealth of mineral resources is almost unequaled among the other states. The rapid economic development stimulated by these resources and the state's vast size have made Texas an American legend. Oil wells, chemicals, ranches, and cattle have played a major part in that legend.
For more than 100 years, Texas was part of the Spanish Empire in America. When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, Texas was for a while joined to Mexico. The section from San Antonio southward retains the flavor of the Hispano-Mexican period in its architecture, foods, and festivals.
The name Texas is derived from tejas or teyas, the rendering by the Spanish in the mid-16th century of the Caddo people's word for friends or allies. It gradually became used to denote the region north of the Rio Grande and east of New Mexico, and was officially applied as Texas when the area was organized as a republic in 1836. Texas was an independent republic until it joined the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. Its single-star flag dates from its independent period and has given Texas the nickname the Lone Star State.
Texas is the second largest state in the nation, after Alaska, and has an area of 695,622 sq km (268,581 sq mi), including 13,095 sq km (5,056 sq mi) of inland water and 1,046 sq km (404 sq mi) of coastal water over which it has jurisdiction. Extending for 1,240 km (770 mi) from east to west and for 1,290 km (800 mi) from north to south, the state comprises 7 percent of the land area of the United States. The mean elevation is 520 m (1,700 ft).
Other cities in Texas
Abilene
Addison
Alice
Amarillo
Arlington
Austin
Baytown
Big Spring
Brownsville
Canton
College Station
Corpus Christi
Dallas
Dumas
Eagle Pass
El Paso
Fort Stockton
Fort Worth
Galveston
Grand Prairie
Houston
Humble
Irving
Kerrville
Laredo
San Antonio
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